With its symphonic Tschaikovsky score, Diamonds venerates the regality of Balanchine's native Russia for an elegant and romantic experience.

Balanchine choreographed Diamonds, the third section of George Balanchine's three-part masterpiece Jewels, to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29. Tschaikovsky composed this work in 1875, just before starting to write Swan Lake. It is the only one of his six symphonies in a major key, and it is the only one to have five movements, with two scherzos setting off the central Andante elegiaco. Balanchine, however, decided to omit the symphony's first movement, deeming it unsuitable for dancing.